Obama Leader commits his life to interfaith connection after 9/11
How a child's plea for peace changed this Obama Leader's life
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In 2002, Rev. Jerad Morey was in lower Manhattan doing post-9/11 recovery as part of AmeriCorps (Opens in a new tab), and he didn't expect to be "having the time of my life there as a service worker." The hours were long and the work was emotionally challenging, but it felt purposeful. Then, on Ash Wednesday of that year, something happened that changed how he felt about everything.
He was walking through a church near Ground Zero, reading sympathy cards that had been sent from around the world, when he suddenly felt insignificant and selfish for finding joy in his work amid such tragedy.
"It's on green construction paper, with 'I'm sorry' written in pencil on the cover. And I open it up, and on the inside it says, ‘God bless America,’ and there's a yellow squiggle around it like he's trying to give America this big hug. Beneath that, it says, 'Please keep trying; I don't want a war.' And it was signed: Josh M., 11. Some kid in Montreal."
That moment reading a child’s plea for peace came to define Jerad’s life’s work. Today, the 2024-2025 Obama United States Leader serves as director of strategic relationships at the Minnesota Council of Churches, where he leads peacebuilding initiatives that have reached more than 9,000 people across Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Wisconsin. We recently connected with him to reflect on his journey from that moment to his current mission of bridging divides and strengthening communities.
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